The US Office of Foreign Assets Control has removed Flying Fox, the 136-meter superyacht, from its sanctions list. This move now allows the superyacht to be chartered without any restrictions imposed.
In June 2022, the Lürssen-built vessel was listed as blocked property by the US Department of Treasury, following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, due to the yacht’s link to its management, Monaco-based brokerage firm Imperial Yachts.
In January 2024, Flying Fox returned to the charter market with Bluewater Yachting, a charter company based in Dubai, for the first time since it was placed under sanctions. While the yacht’s owner has never been placed under sanctions, the yacht herself remains subject to sanctions by the United States, therefore making her unavailable to be chartered by any US citizen or to cruise US waters at the time of listing, but available for use by any EU or UK citizen.
The 2022 invasion of Ukraine, where countries including the US, EU, and UK imposed sanctions on Russia, brought much confusion to the superyacht industry after the arrests/freezing of several Russian-owned superyachts. Two years later, we are still witnessing the fate of these vessels, and observing new precedents being set in real-time for circumstances that have never transpired prior
Sanctions Watch –
M/Y Phi remains embroiled in legal battles, awaiting a Supreme Court hearing in the UK, The 60-meter luxury motor yacht owned by Russian businessman Sergei Naumenko, has been the inadvertent face of the UK’s sanctions regime in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. After the latest Court of Appeal ruling dismissing Naumenko’s challenge of the High Court ruling, Phi remains docked at London’s Canary Wharf as the Court of Appeal Judges remain in the view that her detention contributes to the overall sanctions regime aiming of pressuring Russia to cease sanctions destabilizing Ukraine or undermining or threatening its territorial integrity.
READ: Dalston Projects Limited vs. The Secretary of State for Transport – Will the Supreme Court grant a “Permission to Appeal”?
Royal Romance, the 92-meter motor yacht, will no longer be auctioned off by the Asset Recovery and Management Agency ( ARMA) of Ukraine after a new decision made by the Croatian court canceled its prospective sale. Royal Romance, owned by sanctioned Ukrainian lawyer Viktor Medvedchuk, was seized in March 2022 as she was docked in Croatia following the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Following a Croatian court ruling, ownership of the vessel was transferred to the Ukrainian government, which had plans to sell the asset for Ukraine’s benefit.
Publishing the news to his telegram channel, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, deputy chairman of the Councilʼs Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy in Ukraine, announced the news after the District Court of Split lifted the arrest of the yacht on June 25th, adding “Ukraine might lose this asset altogether.” The reasons for canceling the sale are attributed to a “lack of indictment” from the Prosecutor General’s Office for the criminal case. Further, according to Zheleznyak, decisions regarding Royal Romance remain under the aegis of the Croatian Court since the yacht is still docked in Croatia.
Meanwhile, Alfa Nero, the 81-meter Oceanco-built superyacht, has been sold to a new unnamed owner for $40 million. The yacht was seized in 2022 in Falmouth Harbor, Antigua following the sanctioning of her owner, Andrey Guryev, by the U.S. government following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Following Alfa Nero’s seizure, the U.S. Treasury Department cleared the yacht for sale, nearly auctioning her off to Google CEO Eric Schmidt in June 2023 for $ 67.6 million. Plans to complete the sale were thwarted by Yulia Guryeva, daughter of the Russian businessman, who claimed to be the proprietor of the yacht, thus precluding the Antiguan government from issuing a clear title when completing the transaction with Schmidt.
Over one year later, with the court dismissing Guryeva’s appeal, Alfa Nero re-emerged on the market and a sale was completed by Northrop and Johnson to a private buyer. “I am very happy that the ship is no longer the responsibility of the people and the government of Antigua and Barbuda “ – Ronald Sanders, Antigua and Barbuda’s ambassador to the US.